The present invention relates to control systems for wellheads on an oil or gas well, and more particularly, to a hydrocarbon module with valves for controlling the flow from the wellhead and a separate control module with the actuators for the valves on the hydrocarbon module.
In oil and gas fields, controls, sensors and valve actuators are conventionally spread over the whole structure of, for example, a subsea production tree. A previously accepted disadvantage of such an arrangement is that if any part of this equipment should fail, the tree has to be pulled for the damage to be corrected and this involves extensive workover operations and loss of production time, with the commensurate expense.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.